Toxic Bust: Chemicals and Breast Cancer

While breast cancer rates are higher in educated affluent women in general, the rate is also steadily increasing among poor minority women. The connection between these two disparate findings, according to filmmaker Megan Siler's aptly-named Toxic Bust, lies in an overexposure to chemicals, many of which mimic estrogen. This beautifully filmed documentary visits three “hotspots”—i.e., areas with unusually high breast cancer rates—Cape Cod, the San Francisco Bay area, and the tech industry in Silicon Valley, in order to explore the relationship between chemical exposure and breast cancer, interweaving a fictional account of one woman's trip through her medical exam and breast cancer diagnosis together with interviews of several real-life cancer sufferers and survivors. Offering a compelling theory that breast cancer may be at least partially tied to the foods we eat, products we use, and our geographic proximity to toxic substances, Toxic Bust provides a sobering glimpse into the possible dangers of our seemingly innocuous lifestyle choices. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (N. Egan)